


about to make my golden move

by princegrantaire



Category: The Libertines
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Comedy, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Locked In, M/M, Multi, OT3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 21:28:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6536944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princegrantaire/pseuds/princegrantaire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter, Edie, and Carl all work at the same business. They get locked in Peter's office one day and become friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	about to make my golden move

It's not that Carl is claustrophobic or anything like that, so he's sure there must be another reason for the fact that he can't breathe for a few seconds when he discovers they're locked in Peter's office. Now that he thinks about it, his panic probably has something to do with Peter and Edie being the most intimidating people he knows, even if Peter has a tendency to come off as somewhat ridiculous at times.

As Carl stares out the window, taking deep breaths like Peter suggested he should, he tries to think of something he might have done to deserve this but he comes back empty-handed. He spilled some coffee on Didz this morning but that’s hardly a capital offence, surely it doesn't mean he should be forced to live one of his nightmares.

He doesn't hate Edie and Peter, he doesn't think he's capable of that, but he does find them both somewhat endearing and worries that if he spends more time than advised in their presence he might start having some sort of _emotional reaction_ , which is up there with Carl's fear of snakes and secret passages.

What makes the whole thing worse is the fact that Peter is his boss's son and has the fanciest office Carl has ever seen in his life, not to mention that there's something worryingly charming about his wide-eyes and gangly limbs. As for Edie? Well, she seems to have her life together and has extremely beautiful hair, both of which intimidate Carl to a nightmarish degree.

He can't ever forget the moment Edie came into the mail-room (though he never found out why she was there) and he accidentally stared at her for about three and a half minutes while she talked to Anthony. Carl called in sick the next day and resigned himself to the idea that he could never face Edie again.

Carl doesn't actually get to interact with them all that often, he's just a mail-delivery boy after all, but the few glimpses he's gotten at life beyond the mail-room only made him cower in fear. He clearly wasn't made for an office job (not that he liked his current job particularly much, as it required him to wear khaki shorts).

He hesitantly turns away from the window and nearly has a heart attack at the sight that awaits him. Peter, whose tie is very loose and whose hair is somehow even more messy than before, is sitting on the huge desk in the middle of the office while Edie is sitting cross-legged on the couch. Carl can't help but feel a sudden urge to fling himself out the window.

"Feeling better?" Peter asks and he's smiling at Carl, which surely is some kind of felony.

Carl thinks he says "yes" but he can't be entirely sure because he somehow sits down next to Edie without consulting his brain about it. Now he's almost certain this whole thing is some kind of ploy to kill him off.

"I guess we should have told someone we were working late," Edie says, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Peter apologizes and says something about losing his copy of the office's key but Carl isn't really listening because it suddenly occurs to him that Peter is probably a giant. Either that or he and Edie are just extremely short, which is a bit disconcerting.

"Are we gonna starve to death here?" Carl says as he sits up and walks back to the window. He thinks he might be starting to panic again. He also thinks Peter might be staring at his legs, which, unsurprisingly, doesn't calm him down at all.

"I really don't think that's possible in just one night-"

"But what if the janitor forgets about us? What if he locked us in here intentionally? What if-"

"Carl, calm down!"

Carl gapes for a moment at Edie, shocked that she actually knows his name. Then he remembers he's wearing a name-tag and the magical moment abruptly ends. Despite that, he wishes Edie would say his name again, she's got a lovely voice.

Peter slides off the desk and pats Carl on the back in what's probably supposed to be a comforting manner but Carl can't focus on anything besides the size of Peter's hands. He silently congratulates himself for not fainting.

"Look, we might not have any food but! I have a guitar right here and we've got a chance to make some new friends. It shouldn't be too bad!"

Edie sighs as Peter takes a battered acoustic guitar from somewhere behind his desk and promptly puts it in Carl's arms.

"Can you play something from The Smiths?" Peter asks, staring at Carl with his too wide eyes and a small smile on his lips. Carl, not for the first time that evening, wants to die.

"I don't...How do you...um...know I play guitar?" Carl mumbles instead of making the grave mistake of voicing one of his thoughts.

"Oh! Didz told me at last year's Christmas party," Peter cheerfully replies.

Carl has a brief flashback to last year's Christmas party. He remembers only enough to be certain it was a complete disaster, he's pretty sure he had made out with Anthony at one point and then spilled his drink on Annalisa's dress. Come to think of it his relationship with Annalisa hadn't actually lasted more than a week after that. He had never thought of connecting the two.

He just nods and hopes that Peter remembers even less than he does. At least he finds comfort in the fact that Edie hadn't attended that one.

Carl hands Peter the guitar and says, "Do you think we could climb out the window?"

He doesn't genuinely think they should attempt _that_ but he'd rather die than have to tell Peter he's never heard The Smiths in his life.

"Babe, we're on the fourth floor," Edie says, who is by now lounging comfortably on the couch and seems to have put her hair in a bun at some point. She looks devastatingly cute and Carl rushes towards the window.

He knows for a fact that Edie calls almost everyone "babe" but that doesn't stop the rush of feeling it provokes in him. He wonders whether he'll get fired tomorrow for being the most embarrassing person in the world at all times, he just hopes Peter won't tell anyone about tonight's events.

That's how Carl ends up desperately clinging onto the window ledge. It's not the first time he's found himself in a situation like this but it's the first time it wasn't supposed to lead to his immediate death. His hands start to slip and as he realizes he can't hold himself up much longer, he starts to cry a bit. Just when things were starting to go well.

Carl couldn't have been hanging there for more than a minute but a certain feeling of dread and hopelessness has already settled in his stomach. He thinks he's either about to throw up or pass out and neither option seems particularly favourable.

Suddenly, just as he's about to fall, he feels Peter's huge hands take his and pull him up. The moment Carl stumbles through the window and makes it back into the room, he falls on Peter, hard enough to knock him off his feet. The only problem is that Edie is standing right behind Peter and they end up falling on her. Carl fears for her life.

The all eventually make it to their feet, Peter laughing hysterically and Edie and Carl looking a bit dazed. At least they've managed to survive Carl's escape attempt.

Carl runs a hand through his hair (which doesn't help at all, it's still sticking up in every direction imaginable) and picks up the guitar from the floor where Peter had dropped it earlier.

"Anyway, here's Wonderwall," he says and wonders how he hasn't died of embarrassment yet.

"Oh my god! He likes Oasis," Peter practically squeals, holding Edie's hand and possibly bouncing up and down a bit.

It's far from Carl's proudest moment but Edie and Peter are smiling at him and he's _happy_. He suspects he might even be a little bit in love. There's something absolutely terrifying about that realization, especially since it might not be one of those crushes Carl gets on people simply for paying attention to him.

Carl stumbles over some of the words in the song, cringes a bit, but somehow makes it to the end. Peter and Edie clap excitedly when he's done. He could cry from happiness.

"So...Edie, do you play any instruments?" Peter asks after a moment of silence.

"Cello and no, I can't play any Smiths songs."

Peter pouts until Edie sighs and launches into a very quick rendition of "Girl Afraid", even if she's not particularly good at guitar. Carl wonders whether her song choice means anything.

Edie smiles at them when she's finishes the song and sits back on the couch, stretching her legs over Carl's lap. There's something distinctly feline about about both Edie and Peter.

As delightful as the evening turned out to be (with the exception of Carl's brief brush with death), Carl can't help but wonder whether they'll even talk tomorrow. He doubts an awful lot of friendships, let alone relationships, are made by being locked in together in an office.

They fall asleep in a pile on the couch. There's barely any space on it but they manage to make it work somehow.

-

Carl wakes up on the floor with Peter on top of him, possibly on the verge of suffocating him, and the sound of someone struggling to open the door. Trying to push Peter off him proves to be completely fruitless.

Edie's still sound asleep on the couch, looking rather angelic even if she had somehow managed to kick them off the couch during the night.

The door opens to reveal a very confused looking janitor. Carl is almost certain he's seen him around before but he can't quite remember where.

"Hi," Carl says because he can't think of anything else to do that doesn't involve spontaneous human combustion.

"Do you need help?" the janitor asks. "Oh, sorry for locking you in, by the way."

The dialogue seems to wake Peter up, who finally rolls over and stops slowly murdering Carl. Peter looks horribly adorable, even if he's all messy hair and rumpled clothing.

"Wolfie!" Peter shouts suddenly and jumps to his feet, practically tackling the janitor in his attempt to hug him.

The entire scene is more than baffling to Carl. He's never imagined that Peter, as the boss' son, would even consider interacting with someone like that, let alone be friends with them. Unless that's just how Peter greets people, which would be lovely.

While Peter thanks "Wolfie" for letting them out (as if it hadn't been his fault in the first place), Carl wakes Edie up to tell her the good news. Thankfully the janitor leaves by the time Carl accomplishes that.

"Well, babe, I told you we wouldn't die here," Edie says as she sits up.

As they're finally leaving the office, Peter kisses both Edie and Carl on the cheek and tells them to take the rest of the day off. Carl feels strangely hopeful. 

**Author's Note:**

> based on this wonderful prompt "pete, edie, and carl all work at the same business (pete is the boss's son and works in a fancy office, edie is a middle staff member, carl is the mail-delivery boy). they all get locked in peters office one day and become a #squad (they probably start hanging out in there playing music like in school of rock)". hopefully it turned out decent
> 
> x


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